Halloween, the fastest-growing holiday in the United States, has its origins in the Celtic world. In Ireland, it has long been known as Snap Apple Night, and many of its traditions, like bobbing for apples, have been brought to America over time. Hardcover.

One rainy day, Annie asks her grandmother about their family’s history. Grandma Marilyn, who knows just how to tell a story, takes Annie on a genealogical adventure. Fascinated by the stories of her relatives, Annie decides to bring them all together in one album of family history. With powerfully touching prose, this delightful story takes readers on a nostalgic journey that will leave them reminiscing about their own families.

In the 1800s, January 8th Day parades commemorating the Battle of New Orleans were big events in the city of New Orleans. One of the popular attractions in the parade was Jordan Noble, an African American drummer who played his drum in three American wars, including serving under Gen. Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans. “Old Jordan,” as he was affectionately known, tells his story to young readers in this rhyming picture storybook.

Being the new bird in town is tough, and when the Bad Bird Bunch give Bill the brush-off, Bill learns that the best of friends don’t have to look or act just like him. Bill discovers that real friends are those who stick by your side—even when you have to face up to mean bullies or a big, hungry alligator.

Bluebonnet, everyone’s favorite itinerant armadillo, is on the road again! In this latest picture book by the Texas writer and illustrator team of Mary Brooke Casad and Benjamin Vincent, Bluebonnet visits her sister Irmadillo in Kilgore,Texas. There, she meets her four nephews—Wildcatter, Bradford, Hunt, and Lloyd—all named for aspects of the East Texas oil history. The armadillo boys take Aunt Bluebonnet on a trip to the East Texas Oil Museum where they experience firsthand how oil is produced, what the town was like in the 1930s when oil fever struck, and even what it feels like to drill for oil!

Bluebonnet, the armadillo, is on her first visit to the Texas state fair. Things get exciting when she is sent on a search through the fair to look for clues to help her find her Aunt Armadilly. Along the way, Bluebonnet is mistaken for a football during a Longhorn versus Sooner Cotton Bowl game and makes friends with Joe Bob, a rabbit who has lost his boy.

Bo, the canine hero of Bo, the Famous Retriever, is back, accompanied by his owner, Mrs. Barnett. After the excitement of their last adventure, Mrs. Barnett would like to settle in to her new life of volunteering and baking cookies (her recipes are included), but her high-spirited pet has other ideas. Soon Bo involves Mrs. Barnett and his four teenage trainers in an exciting new mystery.

Bo’s undisciplined mischief has landed him and his owner, Mrs. Barnett, in the vet’s office—twice. Now in a splint and a special funnel-shaped collar, Bo is finally learning obedience. He even helps a new restaurant owner, the famous baseball player Pete Incaviglia, discover who has been breaking in and destroying the kitchen at night.

When Mrs. Barnett’s son goes to Alaska, he leaves Bo, a high-spirited Labrador puppy, in her care. Initially, Mrs. Barnett is dismayed by Bo’s antics, which include chewing shoes and stealing her neighbors’ newspapers. Gradually, her new pet encourages her to get involved with her community and meet new young friends. In time, Bo helps Mrs. Barnett overcome her “empty nest” syndrome—and they both help the police chief solve a mystery.

In 1945, Jella Lepman was asked by the United States Army to serve as a cultural and educational advisor for her native country. While being driven around war-ravaged Germany in a U.S. Army jeep, Jella noticed how hungry the German children were for books since their schools and libraries had been destroyed. Jella wrote letters to publishers all over the world and asked for donations. These donations became an exhibition of children’s books that traveled throughout Germany. Books continue to be donated by various countries, forever honoring the spirit of Jella Lepman and her belief that books truly can make the world a better place.

In this captivating and hilarious illustrated poem, young readers will learn that a world without words is confusing and downright exhausting! Meet Robbie, who would rather hide under his desk and swing from chandeliers than read. When a sorcerer removes the words from the entire world, mayhem results.

Parents and grandparents know well that timeless tales generate endless questions about our holiday traditions, such as “Where did Saint Nicholas come from?” “How does he visit so many children in just one night?” “Why does he leave gifts for girls and boys?” The Nicholas Stories answer these questions about Christmas in a way that shares the true special spirit of the holiday. Hardcover.

In this second book in Greg Watkins’ Big Bill and Buddies Series, the Bad Bird Bunch is stuck in a tree as a hungry alligator waits below. Brendon Mouse asks his friend Ellie Funt to help get the birds to safety. The Bad Bird Bunch are shocked when Ellie, Brendon Mouse, Bartholomew Worm, Bob Cat, DJ Dog, and Bill, the Big Beaked, Big Bellied Bird, the star of Watkins’ first book, rush to rescue them.

The African-American buffalo soldiers, nicknamed by the Cheyenne Indians because of their curly hair and bravery, joined the six black regiments commissioned by an act of Congress in 1866. These men, many of whom were former slaves, enlisted in the army to earn a steady income, acquire an education, and gain respect.

This first novel in the MacGregor Family Adventure Series involves sinister pirate forces, strange sea creatures, hospitable native Caribbean people, and issues of environmental management and endangered species. Suddenly faced with the task of saving a lost Spanish treasure embedded in protected coral reef, four enterprising teenagers rely on their courage and scuba-diving skills as they explore and investigate the exotic waters and beaches of the Cayman Islands.

Charles Marion Russell was the first artist to live most of his life in the West, sketching and painting not only from live subjects, but from actual experience. Becoming a frontiersman at a young age in 1880, he rode and worked with horses on a daily basis, something that no other Western artist had done before. This biography for children is the first of its kind about Russell, and the subject’s own vibrant paintings illustrate his life story. It follows Russell from his school days through adulthood and reveals how he held on to his dreams, living out a child’s cowboy fantasy.